


Family Means No One Gets Left Behind

by SomeoneToCarryYou



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Awesome Pepper Potts, BAMF Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Deaf Clint Barton, Loki magic, Love, M/M, Multi, Non-Canon Relationship, OHANA MEANS FAMILY, Polyamory, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Steve, Sweet, Tony Stark Feels, Violence, and clint will bury the arrow riddled body, fury is scared of pepper potts and screens her phone calls, natasha will kill you in your sleep, tony self esteem issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 05:51:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4089355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeoneToCarryYou/pseuds/SomeoneToCarryYou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Family of the Ten Rings who tortured Tony and were killed by Iron Man are back with a threat to his life posted graphically on the internet. When Pepper reveals this to the team, there's hell to pay, and Steve and Bucky will do anything to protect the arrogant shattered genius who holds their poly-amours relationship together. </p><p>Aka The reason Phil and Fury now have interns answer the phone when Pepper Potts name shows up on caller ID at headquarters. And why interns last about four days average. </p><p>Also Clint philosophizes on what drives scientists to have mental breakdowns and turn themselves into jellyfish-crates who circle NYC spewing deadly goo. Again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Means No One Gets Left Behind

“Seriously, we need to see about improved mental health care for medical researchers. This is the fourth one to have a mental break down and turn into a ridiculous monster that does something bizarrely threatening. Like, what is happening with scientists? Some marine biologist, who the hell turns themselves part jellyfish and part crate. Fucking scary as all hell, but all she did was shoot jelly out of her mouth.” Clint threw himself down on the couch, eyes already closed. Natasha perched on the edge of the couch and ran a hand through his short hair, looking rather tired herself. 

“Sir, Miss Potts is calling and-“ JARVIS was cut off when Pepper stormed in, snapping her cellphone case shut and throwing her purse at the wall. “Anthony Edward Stark! What the hell is the matter with you? No, you know what, don’t answer, the list would be endless!” Tony, finally freed from the armor and rubbing his shoulder sorely, cast a nervous look at Steve and Bucky before continuing to the bar and pouring a scotch. “Pep, please. Let’s relax and talk about it later, okay?” Bruce arched an eyebrow and vanished into the kitchen for tea and Pepper marched forward, on the war path still. “What part of THERE WAS A PUBLIC THREAT AGAINST YOUR LIFE SO LAY LOW FOR A WEEK TONY did you not comprehend when I FIRST FUCKING TOLD YOU?!” 

Well shit. The entire team was paying attention now. Pepper ran her hands through her hair agitatedly, whipping it behind her as she finally began to pace. “We talked about this. I showed you the video. You saw the video. You heard what they said and I begged you not to go out on missions till Phil or Fury had more information on them. You promised me you wouldn’t go out, you lying pain in my ass, and what do see on the news but Iron Man floating through the sky fighting a half sea snake jellyfish woman!” “Crate” “WHAT?” “She was half crate. They aren’t technically sea snakes. Different species.” “Tony I swear to God!” She grabbed the scotch from his hands and threw it back, pointing at the ceiling accusingly. “JARVIS! Play the video!” “NO! Pep, Pepper, please. We talked about this. You agreed this didn’t have to be a ‘team’ thing. It could stay a ‘Tony’ thing.” As placating as the genius’s nervous begging was, Pepper had suffered one too many near heart attacks. Not to mention she’d been looking for an excuse to tell the team. It was something they all needed to be worried about, especially Steve and Bucky since they were in a relationship with Tony.

It all came back to fear of being a burden, but just because she and Tony weren’t a couple anymore didn’t mean she was content to watch him get himself killed out of pride or fear. Bruce ambled back in and Clint sat up as JARVIS lowered a screen and a grainy video played, showing several figures covered head to toe in sandy brown clothes, only their furious eyes to differentiate them.

“We are the Eleven Swords, kinsmen of the fallen Ten Rings who were so viciously murdered by Anthony Stark, despite the fact they spared his life and gave him medical aid. Stark, hear me and my brothers in arms. You pay in blood and pain for the lives you have so casually ended to further your pitiful career, Merchant of Death. We will avenge our fallen fathers and brothers. We are gathering out forces, and by the end of this months’ time your head will rot on a spike in front of your disgusting glass edifice of pride while your worm ridden eviscerated corpse floats in a pool of your dirty filthy blood, you ignorant savage. You have been warned. Prepare for imminent death.” 

The video faded black and the screen began to roll back up as complete silence held the room. Pepper’s anger deflated in to fear and Bruce had to excuse himself quickly to the meditation/Hulk out Room on the bottom floor. Steve was staring at Tony with an open mouth and horror while Bucky had gone cold and raging. Tony himself was eyeing the wood floor and moved to leave the room. At the slightest of movements on his part. Bucky swooped in and tossed a stunned Tony over his shoulder, allowing the genius one delayed squawk of indignation before the elevator doors closed. Steve shook off his shock and followed afterward, opting for the stairs.

“I do not understand. Why do these men seek the death of Stark?” Thor’s grip on his hammer flexed in concern. “These are the families of the men that tortured Tony in Afghanistan, the reason he has the arc reactor in his chest,” Clint muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly and shifting to stand and snap his bow to life. “Gonna go patrol the roof top. Someone send up coffee. Fucking terrorists.” He growled, walking out of the living space, fiddling with his hearing aids. 

Natasha was already on the phone speaking in hushed French and Thor went to “alert my brother things are amiss and see his aid in protective wards!” before throwing himself from the balcony and being pulled up into Asgard via the newly rebuilt Bifrost. 

Ever since Steve, Bucky and Tony had gotten together, they mostly used Tony’s bedroom at night. The bed was bigger and softer, and they were all comfortable there. However, it gave Tony way to many chances to sneak away while they were sleeping, so Bucky got off the elevator on his own floor and headed toward the barely used bedroom, still carrying Tony like a sack of flour. A loud, snarling, cussing, and flailing sack of flour that is. He threw Tony down on the bed, making him bounce twice, before stalking over and shutting the curtains to dim the room. Stark wasn’t actively trying to run, which was probably for the best, as the Winter Soldier programing was a little too close to the surface for comfort in Bucky’s mind. He’d pry end up tackling him through a window. Instead he kept his hands busy, making the room darker, setting out towels in the bathroom for a post mission shower, and checking he had clean pajamas for them to all change into before bed in his dresser. 

When Steve came into the bedroom, he was a perfect mix of totally in control and flipping the fuck out. There was still a bit of rubble and dirt on his cheek and dusted in his short spikey blonde hair, but he’d ditched the suit for jeans and a tee shirt. Bucky finally stopped wandering around and came to stand next to Steve, facing Tony. Tony’s head was cupped in his hands and he refused to meet their eyes. “It’s nothing. It’s not like I don’t get a new death threat every day of the week,” he argued in a weary voice. Steve’s mouth opened, angry words already hot on his tongue, but Bucky spoke calmly.

“How long have you known?” 

Steve was straining against the firm hold of Bucky’s metal fingers around his arm, but at last Tony answered, still glaring holes in the floor. 

“Two days. They posted the video on the internet at 7:31 am on Sunday to a local news station and it got blown up till CNN got a hold of it.” Bucky nodded, tightening his grip on Steve a fraction.

“10 Rings were the guys who tortured you and held you captive, right?” 

Tony stiffened, and his voice was agonized when he whispered from between his fingers. 

“They killed Yinsen. I just wanted him to be safe. And then I killed them all.”

Bucky bit the inside of his mouth to keep his voice objective and smooth. He had to avoid startling Tony. Steve was already bursting at the seams, so he had to keep a quick pace if he wanted all the information. 

“Did SHEILD have anything to say about the threat?”

He relaxed a fraction. “Yeah. They said it was a me problem. Not an Avengers problem. So deal with it for now and try not to get the team involved.” 

Shit, Bucky thought. There was no good reason Tony should look relieved the only one in danger of dying slowly and painfully was him. Steve’s face was murderous when Bucky kept up his halting hand. “Well it’s not a you problem. It’s an us problem, and the team deserved to know. Why did you keep this from everyone?” 

Word choice was key here. He had to stay objective sounding for the most honest answers. Too much anger on his part would make Tony clam up and refuse to discuss it. Tony was stiff again, hands shaking slightly against his face and Steve suddenly wished he could see Tony’s face. He tugged pointedly on his arm and Bucky glared, but noticed Steve had gotten a lid on his temper and let him go. Steve fell to his knees, even with Tony’s face and gently but firmly gripped Tony’s calloused hands in his own larger hands and pulled them down. He noticed the bigger than usual bags under Tony’s normally bright eyes, and the pained twist to his jaw. 

“Tony. Tony, listen to me. You are the most important thing to Buck and me. You mean everything to us, and you are irreplaceable to the team. So yeah, Buck and I are worried, and so is everyone else. But no one will ever hurt you like that again.” Bucky put his metal hand in Tony’s short hair and comfortingly ran his fingers through the strands. “And if they try,” he offered, voice a bit more light hearted, “they’ll only live long enough to regret it. I haven’t had a chance to rip someone’s spine out of their mouth in a while, and I kinda miss it.” Tony chuckled a little and Steve rolled his eyes. Finally he met the concerned blue gazed levied on him and let Steve see fear, anger, and panic in his own. “We’ve got you.” Steve made it sound like the solemnest of vows and most sacred of oaths. Bucky finally tugged at Tony’s shoulder.

“Go take a hot shower, you stink.” Tony stumbled to his feet and shuffled into the bathroom, where he found the hot water already running. Steve and Bucky shared a long low glance. Tony would be protected no matter the cost, something they both wholeheartedly and wordlessly agreed too, before shucking their clothes and joining him in the shower. “Hey, when’d you get this?” Bucky frowned, poking a red angry scrap across Tony’s ribs. “When I got knocked through those apartment buildings,” he admitted tiredly, leaning on Steve’s side. Steve paused in washing his hair to plant a quick chaste kiss on Tony’s cheek, and then they were all cleaning up and stealing Bucky’s pajamas. Bucky aggressively toweled off Tony’s hair, knowing how his eyes would widen and he’d shiver when the drops ran down his neck, while Steve turned down the bed. They settled in, Tony between the two superhuman furnaces, Steve’s arm around his chest, careful not to touch the reactor, and Bucky’s metal hand settled on Steve’s hip, laying across Tony’s side. “We’re gonna be okay,” Steve promised sleepily. 

On the rooftop, Clint Barton drank his sixth cup of coffee, arrow nocked and ready for the first sign of the Eleven Swords emerging in the night. Pepper Potts stared blankly at a computer screen, five floors below, trying to breathe through the memories of those three months, before picking up the phone to rip Fury a new one. Two floors below that, Natasha Romanov squeezed an old source about a new threat, promising pain swift and red if they failed her, and a huge hulking green figure in the sub-basement pounded his massive fists into the heavy duty walls at the idea of someone kidnapping and killing his closest friend. In Asgard, Thor hovered nervously as Loki chanted and moved his fingers as if playing the harp, knitting together a protection spell for Stark. 

The next move of the new threat was unknown. But they would have to get through two demigods, the Hulk, an ex KGB assassin, SHEILD’s finest operative, one pissed off redhead with enough economic power to bring down the free world, two super soldiers (one of which with highly questionable morals), and of course, the infamous Tony Stark himself. Thinking about it, Clint almost wanted to wish them luck.

Almost.


End file.
